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IMPERIAL LIBERTY 



AN ADDRKSS 



DELIVERED TO THE 



LITERARY SOCIETIES 



OF 



HANOVER COLLEGE 



JUNE 6, 1898, 



Harvey W. Wii,ey, Ph.D., I,I,.d. 



E ASTON, PA. • 
CHEMICAL PUBLISHING CO 

1808 



Hanover, Ind., March 21, 1898. 
Dr. H. W. WiIvKY, Washington, D. C. 

Dear Dr. Wiley : Again at old Hanover we are 
making arrangements for Commencement speakers. I 
have been appointed by the Literary Societies to write 
you asking if we can secure you to deliver the address 
before these Societies. This address is delivered on 
Monday evening preceding Commencement. 

I need not tell you how we will appreciate an affirm- 
ative answer from you regarding this matter. 

Very sincerely, 

Geo. T. Gunter. 



Washington, D. C, March 23, 1898. 
Mr. Geo. T. Gunter, Hanover, Ind. 

My Dear Sir : It gives me pleasure to accept your 
very kind invitation, on the part of the Literary Socie- 
ties, to give the annual address before them during 
Commencement week. 

One of the greatest pleasures to which I look forward 
annually is to be at Hanover during the period of Com- 
mencement. I thank you ver}'' kindly for the appre- 
ciation which you show in asking me to deliver this ad- 
dress, and shall enjoy the pleasure of meeting you and 
other loyal Hanoverians at that time. I am, 

Sincerely, 

H. W. W11.EY. 



The Union Literary Society, 

Founded December 2, 1830. 

The Phii.alathean Society, 

Founded November 5, 1840. 

The Zetei.athean Society, 

Founded October, 1880. 

The Chrestomathean Society, 

Founded February, 18S8. 



IMPERIAL LIBERTY. 



A small nation in an insular position may 
easily and properly hold itself aloof from inter- 
national policies. A great nation on an unde- 
veloped continent may also devote itself solely to 
the task of subduing forests and plowing prairies. 
The American people, from the Revolution and 
up to the commencement of the Civil War, was 
essentially a nation of tree-killers and sod- 
breakers. To it the world was practically com- 
posed of that portion of the North American 
Continent forming the United States and Terri- 
tories of America. Liberty was the very essence 
of the life of the pioneer. Freedon of conscience, 
freedom of speech, freedom to devastate forests, 
freedom to appropriate the almost illimitable 
grazing lands of the bison he assumed as his 
natural right. In proportion to his love of lib- 
erty was his hatred of all its opposites ; social 
and political restraint, hereditary political 



power, proximity of despotic domination and 
state churches. Busy with his contest with 
Nature, and surrounded with untouched areas 
of expansion, he was naturally indifferent to the 
world at large. These peculiar conditions were 
realized by the fathers of the Republic and led to 
that enunciation of political independence which 
went beyond even the immortal declaration 
which resulted in the separation of the colonies 
from the mother country. 

The wisdom and prudence of this independ- 
ence are now easily recognized by everyone and 
the light of history throws a w^onderful illumina- 
tion on the sagacity, wisdom and prescience of the 
fathers. We now see clearly the path pointed 
out by the founders of the Republic leading 
away from entangling alliances with the nations 
of the old world, proclaiming our neutrality, not 
indifference, to their struggles, to their successes 
and defeats. Our early years saw, it is true, 
with unconcealed satisfaction, the progress of 
the French Revolution, but without condoning 
its exces.ses. It was not, perhaps, a proper ex- 
hibition of gratitude to approve the downfall of 



a kingdom which had lent us such valuable as- 
sistance in securing our own independence. 
We were not blind, however, to the motives 
which led Louis the XVI. to send his ships and 
soldiers to our shores. It was not love of 
liberty but hatred of Great Britain. This we 
can say without detracting anything from the 
glory of his subjects, who, by reason of their 
love for our cause, voluntarily offered their ser- 
vices and their lives to it. These men, immortal, 
live in the hearts and affections of our people, 
typified in the devotion and heroism of Lafay- 
ette. 

In a decade after the achievement of our own 
liberty, we saw^ the king who had helped attain 
it, sacrificed to the despotism of the Terror, and 
a new nation arise on the ruins of royalty. But 
restrained by the policies which we had inaugu- 
rated, our sympathies took no further form than 
a lively satisfaction in seeing a people long op- 
pressed and naturally devoted to liberty, acquire 
their rights. We cared little about the way in 
which they exercised them. 

At this period our attitude was clearly defined 



by Washington, in his farewell address, in the 
following words : 

" Obser\^e good faith and justice towards all 
nations ; cultivate peace and harmony with all ; 
religion and morality enjoin this conduct ; and 
can it be that good policy does not equally en- 
join it ? It will be worthy of a free, enlightened, 
and, at no distant period, a great nation, to give 
to mankind the magnanimous and too novel ex- 
ample of a people always guided by an exalted 
justice and benevolence. Who can doubt that, 
in the course of time and things, the fruits of 
such a plan would richly repay any temporary 
advantages which might be lost by a steady ad- 
herence to it ? Can it be that Providence has 
not connected the permanent felicity of a nation 
with its virtue ? The experiment, at least, is 
recommended by every sentiment which ennobles 
human nature. Alas! is it rendered impossible 
by its vices ? 

" The great rule of conduct for us, in regard 
to foreign nations, is, in extending our commer- 
cial relations, to have with them as little connec- 



tion as possible. So far as we have already 
formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with 
perfect good faith. Here let us stop. 

*' Europe has a set of primary interests, which 
to us have no, or a very remote, relation. 
Hence she must be engaged in frequent contro- 
versies, the causes of which are essentially for- 
eign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it must 
be unwise in us to implicate ourselves, by arti- 
ficial ties, in the ordinary vicissitudes of her 
politics, or the ordinary combinations and col- 
lisions of her friendships or enmities. 

' ' Our detached and distant situation invites 
and enables us to pursue a different course. If 
we remain one people, under an efficient Gov- 
ernment, the period is not far off when we may 
defy material injury from external annoyance ; 
when we may take such an attitude as will cause 
the neutrality we may at any time resolve upon, 
to be scrupulously respected ; when belligerent 
nations, under the impossibility of making ac- 
quisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the 
giving us provocation ; when we may choose 



lO 

peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice, 
shall counsel. 

*' Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a 
situation ? Why quit our own to stand upon 
foreign ground ? Why, by interweaving our 
destiny with that of any part of Europe, entan- 
gle our peace and prosperity in the toils of Euro- 
pean ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or 
caprice ? 

' ' It is our true policy to steer clear of perma- 
nent alliances with any portion of the foreign 
world ; so far, I mean, as we are now at liberty to 
do it ; for let me not be understood of being capable 
of patronizing infidelity to existing engagements. 
I hold the maxim no less applicable to public 
than to private affairs, that honesty is always 
the best policy. I repeat it, therefore, let those 
engagements be observed in their genuine sense. 
But, in my opinion, it is unnecessary, and would 
be unwise to extend them." 

At this time, no one doubts the wisdom of the 
parting words which Washington spoke. The 
policy outlined by him was the only course of 
safety. A young republic separated by 60 days 



II 

of precarious sailing from European nations and 
with great social and economical problems of its 
own, was in a fit condition to receive such sage 
advice so happily phrased. The steamship 
and the electric cable have, however, changed 
all this. We are now far closer to Europe than 
was Virginia to Massachusetts in 1796. Our 
matutinal meal is not complete without the daily- 
record of events the world over. Dewey's vic- 
tory in Manila Bay is even known 12 hours be- 
fore it occurs. 

Meanwhile, changes greater than the elimina- 
tion of time and space have taken place in the 
little nation to which Washington addressed his 
adieus. A giant has spread over the continent. 
The vast possessions which France and Spain 
held on this continent in 1796 have been ab- 
sorbed, and in the purchase of Alaska the flag of 
the Republic was planted nearly 180 degrees 
west of Moose Cape. Domestic and foreign 
trade have increased as rapidly as extent of ter- 
ritory and number of population. One hundred 
and twenty years of republican rule have 
shown the stability and adhesiveness of our form 



12 



of government. We have quit killing trees and 

commenced to plant them. We no longer hunt 

the bison but carefully herd the few that remain. 

The indigenous Indian population has practically 

disappeared. Our people, no longer insular, 

have become cosmopolitan. Europe looks to our 

farmers for food and to our travelers for tips. 

We know far more of the people, the policies 

/ and the attainments of other nations than the}' 

/ do of us. Outside of the City of New York, you 

I will scarcely find a trace of provincialism in the 

I whole country. We can name the capitals, the 

J rivers, the principles of government and the 

' great men of all nations. We know more of 

Germany than the Germans, and far more of 

Spain than the Spanish. The impress of this 

nation is keenly felt in every board of trade and 

in every council chamber of the world. 

It is easy to insulate an electric current of a few 
ohms and this was the current of this country as 
measured by the galvanometer of George Wash- 
ington. But what becomes of this insulation when 
the intensity of the current is measured by the 
thousands of ohms ? Such is the current of our 



13 

country now. This great electrical current of 
liberty, directly or by induction, now causes the 
whole earth to vibrate and from every point its 
luminous streams light up the world. 

The essence of Washington's farew^ell address 
is found in the admonition that we were to be a 
good little boy who should be content with his 
own playthings and not go across the street and 
bother the other boys. But it was not long be- 
fore Monroe proclaimed the doctrine that this 
boy should be master of his own backyard and 
all alleys and approaches thereto. In fact, the 
good little boy of Washington's time had already 
begun to swagger under Monroe. With the first 
feelings of manhood experienced by this j^outh, 
came the consciousness of a reserved strength 
and the sense of a limited imperialism. The ex- 
tent of his empire at first was only part of a con- 
tinent, but it soon felt itself expanding and, 
as finally formulated by President Monroe, it 
embraced two continents and a whole hemi- 
sphere. This imperialism, it is true, did not 
contemplate national aggrandizement at the ex- 
pense of neighboring nations. It was simply a 



14 

sullen and yet subtle notice to all the world that 
a new empire had arisen in the West, whose 
influence was dominant in the three Americas. 
The advance of this doctrine over the conserva- 
tism of Washington must have been startling to 
the thousands, still living at that time, who 
were contemporary with the American Revolu- 
tion. The dominancy of the United States in 
affairs pertaining to the Western Hemisphere 
was clearly stated in the message of President 
Monroe, of December 2, 1823. Following are 
the memorable words of that message which 
marked the first great step onward from the 
policy of complete insulation advocated by 
Washington : 

" We owe it, therefore, to candor and to the 
amicable relations existing between the United 
States and those powers to declare that we should 
consider any attempt on their part to extend 
their system to any portion of this hemisphere as 
dangerous to our peace and safety. With the 
existing colonies or dependencies of any Euro- 
pean power we have not interfered and shall not 
interfere. But with the Governments who have 



15 

declared their independence and maintained it, 
and whose independence we have, on great con- 
sideration and on just principles, acknowledged, 
we could not view any interposition for the pur- 
pose of oppressing them, or controlling in any 
other manner their destiny, by any European 
power in any other light than as the manifesta- 
tion of an unfriendly disposition towards the 
United States. * * * * *' Our policy in re- 
gard to Europe, which was adopted at an early 
stage of the wars which have so long agitated 
that quarter of the globe, nevertheless remains 
the same, which is, not to interfere in the inter- 
nal concerns of any of its powers ; to consider 
the government de /ado as the legitimate govern- 
ment for us ; to cultivate friendly relations with 
it, and to preserve those relations by a frank, 
firm, and manly policy, meeting in all instances 
the just claims of every power, submitting to in- 
juries from none. But in regard to these conti- 
nents circumstances are eminently and conspic- 
uously different. It is impossible that the allied 
powers should extend their political system to 
any portion of either continent without endanger- 



i6 

iiig our peace and happiness ; nor can anyone 
believe that our southern brethren, if left to 
themselves, would adopt it of their own accord. 
It is equally impossible, therefore, that we should 
behold such interposition in any form with in- 
difference. If we look to the comparative 
strength and resources of Spain and those new 
Governments, and their distance from each other, 
it must be obvious that she can never subdue 
them." 

At the present time, one of the most interest- 
ing things connected with the Monroe Doctrine 
is seen in the fact that its promulgation was has- 
tened by the efforts of Spain to subdue the re- 
volt which was in existence in many of her 
former colonies. This was particularly true of 
Mexico. It is evident that Spain at that epoch 
manifested the same impotency in repressing re- 
bellion that she has shown in more modern times. 
It was evident to Monroe that Spain could never 
reestablish her authority, but had she been able 
to, notice was given that it would not be allowed. 
It is true that during our Civil War, France fast- 
ened an Emperor on Mexico. As soon as that 



17 

struggle was over, however, a hundred thousand 
veterans were mobilized in the Southwest and 
had not the pathetic career of Maximilian termi- 
nated of its own moribund character, this coun- 
try would soon have brought it to an end. It, 
perhaps, was no mere chance which led Monroe 
to compare the resources of our country at that 
time with those of the first days of the Republic 
in the same message in which the paramount in- 
terests of our country in the Western Hemi- 
sphere were so clearly set forth. To him this 
marvelous expansion was, without doubt, the 
chief reason for asserting our rights to first place 
on the continent. His words, copied from the 
same message, are as follows : 

" If we compare the present condition of our 
Union with its actual state at the close of our 
Revolution, the history of the world furnishes no 
example of a progress in improvement in all the 
important circumstances which constitute the 
happiness of a nation which bears any resem- 
blance to it. At the first epoch our population 
did not exceed 3,000,000. By the last census it 
amounted to about 10,000,000, and, what is more 



extraordinary^ it is almost altogether native, for 
the immigration from other countries has been 
inconsiderable. At the first epoch half the terri- 
tory within our acknowledged limits was unhab- 
ited and a wilderness. Since then new territory 
has been acquired of vast extent, comprising 
within it many rivers, particularly the Mis- 
sissippi, the navigation of which to the ocean 
was of the highest importance to the original 
States. Ov^er this territory our population has 
expanded in every direction, and new States 
have been established almost equal in number to 
those which formed the first bond of our Union. 
This expansion of our population and accession 
of new States to our Union have had the happi- 
est effect on all its highest interests. That it 
has eminently augmented our resources and 
added to our strength and respectability as a 
power is admitted by all. But it is not in these 
important circumstances only that this happy 
effect is felt. It is manifest that by enlarging 
the basis of our system and increasing the num- 
ber of States the system itself has been greatly 
strengthened in both its branches. Consolida- 



19 

tion and disunion have thereby been rendered 
equally impracticable. Each Government, con- 
fiding in its own strength, has less to apprehend 
from the other, and in consequence each, enjoy- 
ing a greater freedom of action, is rendered more 
efiScient for all the purposes for which it was in- 
stituted." 

It is interesting to note that at the time 
President Monroe wrote this message, our 
population had increased more than threefold ; 
namely, from three to ten millions. Now when 
the occasion has arisen for us to assume a 
broader, truly cosmopolitan leadership, our 
numbers have increased over the time of Monroe 
nearly sevenfold. In population, in resources, 
in influence, we thus see our history clearly 
divided into three periods, each with its fixed 
policy and set purpose ; namely, first, the period 
of Washington, three millions, the policy of 
isolation ; second, the period of Monroe, ten 
millions, the policy of continental hegemony ; 
third, the period of McKinley, seventy millions, 
the policy of world impress. 

lyCt me define, if possible, the idea which is 



20 

conveyed by the above postulates. I do not 
come as a modern Chauvin, a blind worshiper 
of the New World Emperor. But the idea which 
late events has ripened into a conviction in my 
mind is that liberty is the true imperator, who 
must eventually rule all nations. The Roman 
Republic was never in its first state an3lhing 
more than a military despotism. We must not 
forget that our ancestors never fought with 
Caesar, but against him. Whether the}- were 
with Arminius in the Teutoburg wood, with the 
warriors who went from the orchards of Nor- 
mandy to battle with Vercingetorix on the hills 
of Alesia or with Cassivelaunus fighting in the 
fogs of the Thames, they were always barbarians 
fighting the great giant of the Tiber. 

In so far as the northern barbarians indeed 
were concerned, the Romans never made a com- 
plete conquest of them. The remains of the 
Roman fortifications on the high hills overlook- 
ing Wiesbaden probably mark the most northern 
point of permanent occupation. The victory 
of Hermann over Varus was the turning-point 
in Roman conquest of the North, and prevented 



21 

the barbarians of Northwestern Europe from 
becoming Latinized, as were the Gauls, and to a 
certain extent the Britons. With fine satire, 
and yet with great truth, Heine describes the 
influence of this battle upon the German race. 

Behold the wood of Teutoburg, 
Described in Tacitus' pages ; 
Behold the classical marsh, wherein 
Stuck Varus, in past ages. 

Had Hermann with his light-hair'd hordes 
Not triumph'd here over the foeman, 
Then German freedom had come to an end, 
We had each been turned to a Roman. 

Nought but Roman language and manners had 

now 
Our native country ruled over. 
In Munich lived Vestals, the Swabians e'en 
As Quirites have flourish'd in clover ! 

Thank heaven ! The Romans were driven away, 
A glorious triumph was Hermann's ; 
Both Varus and all his legions succumb'd, 
And we remain'd still Germans ! 

Strange as it may seem, to-day the descend- 
ants of Caesar's legions are pitted against the 
sons of these barbarians, in Manila Baj^ in 
Cuba, and in the Caribbean Sea. With rude 
bows and clubs and with shields of ox-hide, our 



22 

fathers acquitted themselves like men, and their 
sons to-day, with 13-inch rifles and Gattling 
guns and shields of Harveyized steel, feel still 
the dogged determination of two thousand 
years ago. 

No longer, however, are we barbarians. We 
are grateful to thee, Great Caesar, for teaching 
us the arts of war and the arts of peace. Apt 
scholars you found in the half-wild men clad in 
the skins of wild animals, O Caesar! Rude and 
untutored were the barbarians you found north 
of the Alps, in Northern Gaul and in Britain. 
But you yourself have said it. You found them 
brave, eager to fight for freedom, ready to die 
for it. Beaten, our ancestors were, not con- 
quered. They endured the Roman sovereignty 
long enough to absorb of it what was good, but 
not long enough to be infected with its germs of 
decay. The day of the delivery came at last ; 
the day of decay of the Tiberian tyranny ; the 
day when the great Romisches Reich toppled to 
its fall. The barbarians are now the leaders of 
civilization, the sappers and miners of invention, 
the treasure and safeguard of Christian progress. 



They are the true lovers of liberty. Among 
them only are found a perfect toleration, a basic 
belief that reason, judgment, and sound instinct 
are to be trusted rather than force, repression 
and inquisition to secure the onward march of 
the right. 

Of these barbarians, those who finally occupied 
Great Britain and the continent of North 
America, have achieved the most perfect emanci- 
pation. Unfortunately, our brethren who fought 
with Arminius learned too much from the 
Romans. They are imbued with the idea that 
the great empire of Caesar is not destroyed, but 
that its seat has been moved from the Tiber to 
the Spree. Admirable are these barbarians of 
the western north of Europe. Learning, civiliza- 
tion, the arts of peace, have found a marvelous 
expansion among them. But above all, have 
they learned the art of war and carried it to a 
perfection of which their great master Caesar 
never dreamed. All liberty they have learned 
and loved, but political liberty they have given 
up in exchange for imperial power and imperial 
pomp. This great people, therefore, great in in- 



24 

tellect, great in invention, great in all the arts of 
progress, has deliberately renounced the right it 
might well have claimed from its barbaric record, 
to be the flag bearer and defender of the liberty 
of the world. 

Quite different has been the policy of the 
barbarians in Great Britain. Once free of the 
Roman yoke, no other has been allowed but 
lightly to press their necks. Pursuing an 
imperial policy, England has made almost the 
whole world her empire. We are full of admira- 
tion for the achievements of those barbarians, 
nearest us in blood and purpose. There we find 
enterprise that never sleeps, industry that never 
tires, purpose that never wavers, courage that 
never quails and endurance that is never ex- 
hausted. The blunt Briton impresses alike 
with his unswerving purpose, the ice fields of 
the Yukon and the burning deserts of Africa. 
With the reins of power which follow in every 
direction the paths of her commerce, England 
holds securely the steeds of empire the world 
over. 

But even with all this, and no one denies how 



25 

much it is, England is not quite ready to be 

hailed as the universal harbinger of liberty. 

Free, her people are, in religion, in the arts, in 

trade and in politics, but still in the thrall of the 

fiction of heredity. True it is that it is pomp 

and not power which descends from father to 

son, and practically England is free, free as the 

United States. Unfortunately, the monarchy 

has been endeared, not only to the English but 

to the world, by the benignant reign of the 

peerless Queen whose throne is — 

" Broad based upon her people's will 
And compassed by the inviolate sea." 

But the Queen, good and revered as she is, is 
not England's ruler. The gentlemen who are 
addressed second in the Queen's speeches, who 
go up with the votes of the people and sit 
beneath the Gothic arches of Westminster are 
the sovereigns of England- Only a few days 
ago, the de facto King of England and Emperor 
of India for four terms bowed his majestic head 
to death at Hawarden Castle, and the nation, 
moved to its depths, with one voice decreed an 
imperial funeral to his remains in the sacred 
sepulchre of kings. 



26 

What a lesson for the world, could England 
peacefull}' see her way with reverence for 
history and heredity, but with devotion to duty 
and to progress, to set aside the semblance of 
imperial power and place her crown, not upon her 
king's, but upon her people's brow ! We would 
not have a second Cromwell and a second James; 
not a protector who became despot, and a 
monarch headless, but a majestic purpose of the 
people, a grateful acquiescence of the crown to 
the inevitable march of events. In this one 
minor fault only does England fail in that leader- 
ship which is imperative to bear the banner of 
liberty in the vanguard of progress and proclaim 
the new message of emancipated man to all the 
nations of the world. 

Where else then but to America shall the 
world look for that direction which is necessary 
for continued progress ? The march of events, 
the progress of time, the inevitable selection 
of a captain, without our seeking, without our 
asking, in fact against our protest, has designa- 
ted this nation as the evangel of the new gospel 
of political liberty for all men. 



27 

One patent fact in this connection is worthy of 
especial attention. We have seen directed to 
our shores for a hundred years, streams of immi- 
gration from all quarters of the earth. From Ire- 
land and Germany at times these streams have 
been almost rivers. From England, Scotland, 
Italy, Hungary, the influx of immigrants has 
been large. In fact, there is not a nation of any 
magnitude which is not represented among our 
people. At first, immigrants from any nation 
naturally seek the same localities. In the midst 
of other languages they are forced by necessity 
as well as genetic ties, into partly isolated com- 
munities. Except in some instances, however, 
the isolation of these communities breaks down 
under the stress of commerce and education. 
The parents remain characteristic representatives 
of the land from which they came, save in filial 
allegiance. In a vast majority of cases the for- 
mality of forswearing allegiance to a foreign 
power and assuming citizenship in America is 
not mere form. It comes from the heart and is 
a choice as well as a political convenience. Our 
naturalized citizens, as a rule, yield nothing in 



28 

allegiance and loyalty to our native born. Re- 
taining, naturally, an affection for their father- 
land, it is the love of early associations, of rela- 
tives and friends rather than a love of political 
institutions. 

But the children born under our flag are no 
longer foreign. While able to understand the 
language of their parents, they never make it 
their mother tongue. In the school and on the 
street they assimilate the real spirit of our youth. 
They become thoroughly amalgamated and ab- 
sorbed . 

We thus have no fear of the impress of the for- 
eign element on our Anglo-Saxon type. The 
dominant race not only preserves its primacy, 
but easily absorbs all the outer elements which, 
left in their entirety and to natural increase, 
might imperil its sovereignty. 

But are we Anglo-Saxon? " Norman and 
Saxon and Dande are we, " sang Tennyson in his 
welcome to the Princess of Wales, "but all of 
us Danes in our welcome to thee." So may we 
say, English, Scotch, Irish, German, Dutch are 
we, but all of us Americans in our welcome to 



29 

thee, Liberty! In purpose, in speech, in love of 
liberty are we one. 

After all, language is the great unifier and 
amalgamator. Racial characteristics, eccentric- 
ities of heredity, pronounced variations from 
the genetic t3^pe, all tend to disappear under the 
influence of a common environment. And of all 
factors which go to give force and activity to en- 
vironment, language is the most potent. The 
philologist seeks in the remains of a language 
the racial characteristics of peoples long since 
extinct. Ties of relationship between nations 
are traced, not so much by the shape of the nose 
or the angle of the forehead with the face, as in 
common words and common forms of expression, 
or in words which have survived from earlier 
dates. The dominant influence of the Latin 
tongue, on the language of Italy, France, and 
Spain, is at once evident to the student of philol- 
ogy, but how clearly are brought before us the 
incidents of the Roman conquest when we go 
among the peasants of the North of France. 
Here we find, strongest perhaps of all nations, 
the spirit of locum tenens. The French peasant 



30 

loves the land of his birth, the spot where his 
fathers have lived from prehistoric times. In 
the amalgamation of the Roman conquest, the 
Latin language, modified by local dialects, be- 
came dominant. In the long period of retro- 
gression and transformation which followed the 
decline of the Roman Empire, these people still 
held their place. There they are to-day with no 
desire to travel, content with simple lives of 
labor, and moved only by the spirit of patriotism 
and military duty to leave their home. Once 
the term of service is passed, the peasant soldier 
returns to the fertile fields, the object of his love 
and the solace of his days. Among these people 
there still survive many purely Latin words. 
For instance, I heard there two years 2i.go gallina 
constantly used instead of poulet. Such facts 
seem to illustrate, in a most striking way, the 
potency of language in the environment of a peo- 
ple. 

For this reason, a broader view leads us to re- 
gard as the dominant race of political and relig- 
ious liberty, not so much one bounded by geo- 
graphical lines as one speaking the great tongue 



31 

of liberty, the English language. Here is one 
language of the world which has never been as- 
sociated with despotism, one which has never 
been the vehicle of blind excesses, anarchy and 
communism. Here again Destin}^ has made 
America the banner-bearer of English-speaking 
people. Over sevent}^ million people speak Eng- 
lish in the United States ; scarcely twenty mil- 
lions speak English in England. The traveler in 
London is surprised to find dialects, almost un- 
intelligible, spoken by vast multitudes of people. 
The fishermen have a jargon of their own, like- 
wise the longshoremen and the costers. The cock- 
ney dialect is only English by courtesy. The 
language of Shakespeare is scarcely known 
along the business banks of the Thames. The 
county dialects are more foreign. In Yorkshire 
you hear little English. The language of Wales 
is a heterogeneous mixture of double "l"s and 
less liquid consonants. Scotland — well you 
have read Burns and the Bonnie Brier Bush, or 
perhaps, as I have, read at them. Ireland is 
Irish, except in New York, where it is official. 
England, the birthplace of Shakespeare, and the 



32 

birthplace of the old Bible, is not an English- 
speaking country. But here it is different. It 
is true we have forms of expression which are 
not found in Shakespeare or the Bible, perhaps 
not heard even in the House of Commons. 
There is a drawl and a nasal twang heard among 
the hills of New Hampshire and in the meadows 
of Maine. The classical reduplication of the 
Greek verb may be discerned in the speech of the 
Pennsylvania Dutch. The old English of James- 
town in 1607, may be heard mellow^ed by the 
musical intonations imported from Africa, along 
the Rapidan and the Rappahannock. The vow- 
elful and mellifluous periods of the Creole are 
noticeable in Florida and the New Arcadia of 
Louisiana. The broncho and his rough rider 
have made an impress on the speech of New 
Mexico and Arizona. The Mexican and the 
Spaniard are still in evidence in the language 
which greets you at the Golden Gate. Even in 
Indiana I am told there are peculiarities of dia- 
lect which might seem strange to the ears of 
President Eliot and Josiah Quincy. Our own 
honored and loved Edward Eggleston and James 



33 

Whitcomb Riley have caught these vanishing 
touches of local expression and fixed them in a 
literature valued to-day for its faithfulness to 
fact, and which will be prized to-morrow for its 
historical treasures. 

But wherever you go in this broad land, from 
Lake Memphremagog to Bayou Teche, or from 
the Dry Tortugas to '' Shasta's summit thatched 
with snow," whether you join the spirit of the 
fair Alfaretta and glide down the blue current of 
the Juniata or w^ander in the moonlight on the 
" banks of the Wabash far away," you will hear 
good English, English heard and understood by 
all English-speaking people. No strange jargon 
greets your ears, no unintelligible remnant of lan- 
guages which have had their day, no impenetra- 
ble walls of speech, callous and pachydermic, 
but good, wholesome English fit for the king, 
binding this great nation with a tie stronger than 
the selfishness of commerce, firmer than the 
bonds of political union, more lasting even than 
the constitution itself. How rapidly the arteries 
of travel and the community of interests abolish 
localisms of speech, you all know. There can 



34 

be no permanent dialect where there are five 
express trains each way every day. 

While we love our country, we are not rooted 
in the soil. Our country is not a town, nor 
even a county or state. It is America from the 
most western tip of the Aleutian Islands to the 
most eastern sand bar of Maine. Over those 
8,000 miles, one language, one flag, one 
country. The primacy of liberty is therefore 
first of all Anglican and includes in its sover- 
eignty every English-speaking man, whether 
loyal subject of the Queen, or a king in his own 
right under the stars and stripes. 

We are not surprised at Chamberlain, there- 
fore, when he proclaims the unavoidable union 
which must sooner or later take place between 
the overgrown daughter and the noble mother. 
This unity is inevitable, because two nations 
speaking the same tongue, loving the same 
liberty, pursuing the same destiny, must have a 
common aim and purpose. This union need 
not be political. The time may even j^et come 
when, arrayed as hostile armies, Americans may 
meet Englishmen on bloody fields. These are 



35 

incidents of passing complications. They will 
not interfere with manifest destiny. 

We cannot stop here to discuss the details of 
the Anglo-American alliance. There may be no 
details. There may be no open union, but the 
hidden union already exists ; its springs cannot 
be destroyed ; its purpose cannot be thwarted ; 
its service to mankind cannot be prevented. 
Resistant, selfish, grasping, the Englishman 
may be ; courageous and brave he is of a verity. 
Ruler of a vaster empire than Alexander, or 
Caesar or Napoleon ever dreamed of, we may 
pardon his pride and his arrogance. But when 
we cut through those well-lined pockets, when 
we get within that mail of pride and power, 
when we reach his heart, we find he loves 
liberty ; he is ready to fight for fair play ; he is 
eager to establish jUvStice, and above all, he 
speaks English. Imagine the banner of liberty 
carried by a Russian or a Czech ! Freedom 
would be strangled by all their " wiches" and 
" ows." Koerner and Heine did all that genius 
could to make German the speech of freedom. 
But alas ! it has become the vehicle of an almost 



36 

absolute imperialism, and within ten years, more 
than five thousand people have been sent to jail 
for speaking disrespectfulh" of the Emperor. 
Grand and great as the German people are, they 
have tied their hands and feet and they falter in 
the race. Bullets and bayonets, sabres dang- 
ling on the sidewalks and uniforms strutting 
along the streets, are regnant everywhere. Not 
liberty but the Kaiser's coat is the sacred 
emblem of German}^ 

In France we find more favorable conditions, 
but they are not constant. Within a hundred 
years we have seen there two empires, two 
kingdoms, two republics, and one commune. 
The Marseillaise is sung both by the republican 
and the petroleuse. License often is found hand 
in hand with liberty. The memorable words of 
Danton, " audace, encore audace, toujours 
audace," too often portray the nation's actions. 
Leaders of literature, masters of arts, founders 
of science, purveyors of beauty and sentiment, 
the French neither by quality nor power nor 
locality, are suited to lead the legions of freedom. 
The claims of minor nations to freedom's pri- 



37 

macy are not to be considered. Without any 
hope of a ruling influence, hampered by history, 
handicapped by heredity, they can only look on 
and approve or disapprove, indifferently, while 
the emancipation of the world goes on. So by 
direct search, by the markings of manifest 
destiny and by exclusion do we arrive at the 
same end and find ourselves appointed without 
our will, possibly against our desires, to the 
primacy of catholic liberty. 

Unconsciously have we drifted towards our 
determined destiny. Even after a state of war 
was proclaimed between this country and Spain, 
our people failed to realize its full meaning. To 
us it appeared a war of forced philanthropy, 
food for starving women and children, peace and 
stability to a devastated island. Our proposed 
philanthropy only served at first to cut off from 
starving thousands the pittance of food which 
they were receiving. If the tales of suffering 
before the declaration of war be true, what 
must now be the depths of misery among the 
dying reconcentrados of Cuba ? 

Suddenly our dreams of benevolence are dissi- 



38 

pated by news from Manila. Far to the west, 
where the days divide and the west becomes east, 
Dew&y, /aio profugtcs, far more than was Aeneas 
of old, by a brilliant dash and victory, planted the 
standard of republican independence on the arse- 
nal of Cavite. At first we felt only the exhilaration 
of the most remarkable victory ever achieved by 
arms. Scarcely had the thrill of exultation died 
away before a new sensation, strange to the 
hearts of Americans, asserted itself. It arose in 
response to the universal question : Shall the 
flag of freedom once planted ever be replaced by 
an emblem of despotism ? From all quarters of 
the land came a universal negative as an answer. 
It is scarcely possible that any forces, however 
conser\^ative, shall be able to resist this new and 
yet majestic instinct of empire. 

I have no sympathy with mere Fourth of July 
froth, nor with the screeching eagle, nor the 
bombastic boasts of voiceful orators. Fire- 
works and roman candles, high pitched periods 
and resonant phrases, boasts and bombast, 
banter and buncombe have their uses and serve 
at least to amuse where they fail to instruct or 



39 

enthuse. While I think our people are brave, 
bravery is also found elsewhere. Under the 
standards of depotism men fight with the same 
devotion, the same lofty courage, the same 
daring and exposure as in the cause of freedom. 
In fact, for many reasons devotion to the king 
or the emperor is a more unifying principle than 
devotion to a principle or a cause. The personal 
devotion to the leader counts as a prime factor 
in the winning of the battle. 

The imperialism of Napoleon was based on 
the personal devotion of his soldiers. His ashes 
still inspire the French soldier, whose love for 
the great Emperor has never been more forcibly 
illustrated than in the German of Heine. What 
more pathetic picture was ever portrayed by pen 
than that of the two grenadiers, released from a 
Russian prison, wearily walking back to France 
to learn of the captivity of the Emperor. 

Two grenadiers travel'd tow'rds France one day, 

On leaving their prison in Russia, 
And sadly they hung their heads in dismay 

When they reach'd the frontiers of Prussia. 

For there they first heard the story of woe, 
That France had utterly perish'd, 



40 

The graud army had met with an overthrow, 
They had captured their Emperor cherish'd. 

Then both of the grenadiers wept full sore 

At hearing the terrible story ; 
And one of them said : "Alas! once more 

" My wounds are bleeding and gory." 

The other one said : " The game's at an end, 
** With thee I would die right gladly, 

"But I've wife and child, whom at home I should tend, 
" For without me they'll fare but badly. 

" What matters my child, what matters my wife? 

" A heavier care has arisen ; 
" Let them beg, if they're hungry, all their life, — 

" My Emperor sighs in a prison. 

" Dear brother, pray grant me this one last prayer : 

" If my hours I now must number, 
"O take my corpse to my country fair, 

" That there it may peacefully slumber. 

" The legion of honor, with ribbon red, 

" Upon my bosom place thou, 
"And put in my hand my musket dread, 

" And my sword around me brace thou. 

" And so in my grave will I silently lie, 
" And watch like a guard o'er the forces, 

"Until the roaring of cannon hear I, 

" And the trampling of neighing horses. 

"My Emperor then will ride over my grave, 
" While the swords glitter brightly and rattle, 

" Then armed to the teeth will I rise from the grave, 
" For my Emperor hasting to battle!",— 



41 

And what more impressive event in history 
than the procession of the veterans of a dozen 
wars, escorting the Emperor's dead body under 
the Arch of Triumph, along the Champs Elysees 
to the guilded dome of the Invalides! Heine 
alone has painted the true picture of that histor- 
ical event. 

Yes, I myself his funeral saw, 
The golden carriage so splendid. 
And victory's golden goddesses. 
Who the golden coffin attended. 

Along the famous Champs Elysees, 
Through the Arc de Triomphe stately. 
Across the mist and over the snow. 
The procession wended sedately. 

The music was painful and out of tune, 

And frozen was every musician ; 

The eagles perch'd over the standards look'd down 

Upon me in woeful condition. 

In ghostly fashion the men all appeared. 
All lost in old recollections, — 
The wondrous imperial dream revived. 
Awakening olden affections, 

I wept on that day. Tears rose in my eyes. 
And down my cheeks fast fleeted. 
When I heard the long-vanished loving shout 
Of "Vive I'Empereur!" repeated. 

This personal devotion is a factor not to be de- 
spised in the cementation of men for great pur- 



42 

poses and great achievements. Caesar's success 
was due not only to his overmastering ability, 
but also to the love he inspired among his 
legions. To-day even the most democratic and 
irreverent of us stand with uncovered heads in 
the presence of the personal representative of 
delegated and autocratic power. What loyal 
citizen would not show a becoming deference for 
the President of the United States? Who could 
stand in the presence of the Russian Czar or 
the German Emperor without a commendable 
and respectful awe? This does not imply, by 
any means, an approval of their principles of 
government. But in the Russian Czar is found 
the sole source of leadership and government of 
a mighty and numerous people, and in the Ger- 
man Emperor we find also practically autocratic 
authority. Happy the people, whose unhappy 
lot dooms them to despotism, — to have placed 
over them men who seek their welfare, and who, 
in the sense of responsibility to Heaven, admin- 
ister the affairs of government! Such appear 
now to be the men who rule the destinies of Rus- 
sia and Germany. 



43 

But in our country this adhesiveness to hered- 
ity is wanting. The man in power to-day be- 
comes the plain citizen of to-morrow. You may 
find in the Court House at Indianapolis, elo- 
quently pleading the cause of his client, a for- 
mer President of the United States. Driving 
along the Academic Shades of Princeton, enjoy- 
ing still the strength of manhood and of intellec- 
tual power, another President may be found, 
living in bucolic simplicity. 

We cannot pin our allegiance to a Governor 
or to a President, but, nevertheless, we are not 
an incoherent people. The strength of our 
Union has already been put to the severest test. 
It is more lasting, more binding, more vivifying 
to-day than ever before. 

But we are not without a bond of union, nor 
wholly devoid of that strength which comes 
from a common object of love. Liberty in our 
nation takes the place of Caesar, Napoleon, Im- 
perialism. In the banner which is our visible 
emblem, we daily salute her. There is no mere 
sentimentality in our love for the flag. It is no 
jingo patriotism which asks that it float over 



44 

every public building and every schoolhouse of 
the land. It is no mere exacerbation of nervous 
tension which at this time moves an American 
audience to rise and cheer when the band pla3'S 
the "Star Spangled Banner." Think of all 
that this simple bunting means, not only to us, 
but also to the people of the world ; liberty of 
church, liberty of state, liberty of action, liberty 
of thought. The censor is permitted in time of 
war, but only to judge of items of news that 
might prove useful to the enemy. Imagine a 
censor, in time of perfect peace, dictating to an 
American author or to an American editor what 
he should publish ! 

Even the censor of Europe, while he may 
seize books and repress newspapers, cannot con- 
trol the thought of the people. Quite wittily has 
Heine shown the impossibility of censorship in 
his humorous description of his experiences in 
entering Germany after a residence of many 
years in France. Speaking of the customs 
officers who are looking for contraband books, 
he says : 



45 

They poked their noses in everything, 
Each handkerchief, shirt, and stocking ; 
They sought for jewels, prohibited books, 
And lace, with a rudeness quite shocking. 

Ye fools, so closely to search my trunk ! 
Ye will find in it really nothing ; 
My contraband goods I carry about 
In my head, not hid in my clothing. 

Point lace is there, that's finer far 
Than Brussels or Mechlin laces ; 
If once I unpack my point, 'twill prick 
And cruelly scratch your faces. 

In my head I carry my jewelry all, 
The Future's crown-diamonds splendid, 
The new-gods temple-ornaments rich, 
The god not yet comprehended. 

And many books also you'd see in my head, 
If the top were only off it ! 
My head is a twittering bird's nest, full 
Of books that they gladly would forfeit. 

This imperial liberty regnant to-day is not 
permeated with the thirst for conquest. We have 
no vain ambition for territorial aggrandizement, 
no desire for military glory in itself. The 
duties which are imposed upon us by the destiny 
of liberty do not intoxicate but make us sober. 
Modestly we bow our heads in recognition of the 



46 

leadership to which we have not aspired, but 
which we cannot avoid. 

Grave complications present themselves in re- 
spect of our relations to other nations. The 
words of the fathers, quoted at first, have come 
to us with a deeper and truer meaning. Our 
desire is still, as ever, to form no entangling 
alliances ; to cultivate the good will and friend- 
ship of all nations. The war which is now wa- 
ging is not one of conquest, neither can it be one 
of relinquishment. We seek no conquests in 
foreign lands. We dare not leave again to mis- 
rule and anarchy any spot where the fortunes of 
war have placed our flag. Sober, firm of pur- 
pose, true to our traditions, we go forth to fight, 
not the battles of the nation, but for the liberty 
of the world. Brave we believe our soldiers and 
sailors to be ; brave are the foemen whom they 
meet. Unequal is the contest, but our foemen 
are not to be despised. Without hatred, with- 
out envy, we battle. In our hearts the great 
purpose of the ages ; in our hands the flag of 
imperial liberty. 



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